‘Beauty and the Beast’ Short Gives Gaston and Le Fou a Musical Origin Story

Gaston and Le Fou’s friendship is many things: Complicated and co-dependent, kind of weird, and definitely one of the greatest antagonist pairings in Disney history. It’s easy to see why they’re friends, but it’s difficult to imagine how this odd couple came together in the first place. That’s where this new claymation short film comes in. A collaborative effort between Disney, Tongal and the Young Storytellers, the short — created by a 12-year-old boy — imagines how Gaston met Le Fou, and gives us a little bonus “Gaston” song action.

The Hollywood Reporter premiered the new short film, which was directed by Kevin Ulrich of Tongal — described as “an independent creative network with a global community of more than 120,000 writers, directors and animators.” After Disney treated the Young Storytellers to an early screening of the live-action Beauty and the Beast, the creative kiddos went to work with their mentors, coming up with short concepts inspired by the film. The short above, titled “Le Fouston,” was created by 12-year-old Robert Nelson, and imagines how Gaston and Le Fou originally met — unsurprisingly, it was the result of a run-in with the law.

Nelson’s short, along with those created by his peers, recently screened at Hollywood’s El Capitan Theatre at a special premiere, where the Young Storytellers were able to see their creations on the big screen.